Scrutiny grows over child influencers as 'Jacky Dejo' case highlights social media’s exploitation risks

The case of Dutch child influencer "Jacky Dejo" (Jacquelina de Jong) is drawing renewed attention in the New York Times to the dangers young influencers face in the social media age, particularly as they monetize adult followers by selling just-this-side-of-the-line content. Raised online by her parents to promote her snowboarding and modeling, Jacky’s platform rapidly evolved into a profitable enterprise—headquartered in a tax haven, of course—with primarily adult men paying for her photos and exclusive content. Now 18 and legally emancipated, Jacky continues to market suggestive, nonnude images and is helping young influencers follow in her footsteps. The Horizon leaves you to your thesaurus to summon alternate definitions of her job.

While Jacky claims agency over her content and body, child safety advocates argue that her case reveals age-old issues in the influencer economy, where minors are vulnerable to both financial exploitation and predatory attention. U.S. federal agencies, including the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, have begun monitoring similar cases, aiming to address gaps in regulation that allow children to be marketed and viewed as commodities online. The case also raises concerns about parental roles in enabling or managing young influencers’ platforms, which in the U.S. is frequently a third rail.